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Ehm, your news article is from September 2000, so I guess Gauck is doing just fine today.

But it doesn´t change the fact. From back then one everybody can officially call him a Stasi protege and he cannot do anything about this. I am just not sharing this Gauck-mania, I don´t buy this guy, we have better candidates than him that come along without such background, even from east Germany...why not Mr Boehmer for instance?

I would have preferred Töpfer as an honest statesman...besides there are substantial allegations that Gauck had his own privleged niche carved out in the DDR: http://www.rp-online.de/politik/etap...auck-1.2270119
At least a German court agrees with that statement, let´s see for how long he will remain in the saddle...

That Stasi defender Peter-Michael Diestel had a grudge with Gauck is actually more positive than negative.

And already back then Gauck beat the Stasi fan boys when it came to public opinion.

And already back then Gauck beat the Stasi fan boys when it came to public opinion.

I don´t know where the hype about Gauck came out from, seriously before the succession of Koehler nobody even used his name and suddenly he was poltical star. I just say that he might have his own historical baggage which migh eventually fall on his feet once he becomes President. The last thing we need now is another scandal while we are lecturing others on morality and transparency...that´s why I am not sharing this enthusiasm about Gauck.

I'm not buying Gauck's moral superiority and independent political stading. He's pretty much an old school atlantic oriented conservative who sympathizes with Sarrazin and mocks Harz 4 dependants. Not really the kind of man you want to be a unifying figure for all germans across the board...

I actually think that lying POS zu Guttenberg would be a much better candidate for the presidency. He's got a pretty wife and the aristocratic glamour about him, that all Germans really want to see in our head of state. So he meets all the formal criteria needed for the job. Plus, we already know he's a crook, so no surprises here...

I actually think that lying POS zu Guttenberg would be a much better candidate for the presidency. He's got a pretty wife and the aristocratic glamour about him, that all Germans really want to see in our head of state. So he meets all the formal criteria needed for the job. Plus, we already know he's a crook, so no surprises here...

Thank god, you're kidding. There are people out there who'd take this for real.

Gauck could be used as a good tool to show that the SED/Linke hardliners are complete nutjobs when it comes to their past.

Aren´t we lecturing the PIIGS about transparency and morals? Aren´t we telling them to combat corruption and demand further cuts in their already damaged welfare systems? So political scandals of our head of state will not really give us street cred on this one IMHO.

As for Gauck, I don´t think that the fate a >10% leftist party should determine the election of a new head of state, while at the same time the Greens are allowed to take part in coalitions. At best he can troll the left, while at the same time he accepts invitations by the Banking sector thus making himself vulnerable during a time of a financial services induced crisis where lots of people lost their jobs. That´s why I would have preferred a more solid solution for the head of state. My prognosis is that he will stumble across his close ties to the banking industry before the end of his 1st term or he will stumble across his views on immigration citing Sarazzin during a meeting with Abdullah Gül .

In retrospect those Kohl year weren´t really so bad. Looking at the current situation and the current talent pool in poltics my opinion about Kohl is steadily on the rise. He kept Germany on the growth track and out of wars. He was an accepted leader in Europe who had the right sure instinct for the international stage, unlike Merkel and Schäuble today. Besides I wouldn´t know that Töpfer is tainted with the Schwarzgeldaffäre, but I didn´t limit it to Töpfer. There are others as well I would have preferred over Gauck with this holier-than-thou attitude.

Why don´t we elect Carsten Maschmeyer right away? At least he doesn´t need those little presents to make up his opinion about the financial service sector! BTW Gauck has a digusting taste: a cheap brown tie and a dark blue suit...that hurts!

Aren´t we lecturing the PIIGS about transparency and morals? Aren´t we telling them to combat corruption and demand further cuts in their already damaged welfare systems? So political scandals of our head of state will not really give us street cred on this one IMHO.

Had the Greeks treated their politicians like we do, and got rid of them on signs of corruption, they would have fared better don't you think ?

Had the Greeks treated their politicians like we do, and got rid of them on signs of corruption, they would have fared better don't you think ?

Well, first signs of corruption...you are hilarious! The only difference is that our economy is stronger so we can digest more corruption than the Greeks could. I don´t buy this "honest-German" argument as well...